Those who study such things, namely psychiatrists, tell us there are five basic drives in life: (1) to live, (2) to be with others, (3) to love and be loved, (4) to excel and (5) to believe in something everlasting. It’s no small wonder that these desires are of what a man’s life consists, for they are all found in the early pages of the Bible as we recount the story of the creation.
To live In the beginning, God said, “Let’s make man in our own image” (Genesis 1:26), and He did so, thereby giving man the will to live.
To be with others God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will create a help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18), and He created Eve, the first woman, to give Adam the company God said he needed. Thereby He fulfilled man’s desire to be with others.
To love and be loved Not only did Eve fulfill Adam’s need to be with like kind, but since she was created out of Adam, he said, “This [that is Eve] is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…therefore a man shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24). God placed man and woman together to satisfy their need for companionship and love.
To excel “God said: ‘Be fruitful and multiply; replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it” (Genesis 1:28). Here God instilled in His creation the drive to excel!
To believe in something everlasting God’s instruction regarding the tree of life in the Garden was, “In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). We don’t know how long the period of time was before Eve was tempted by Satan and did eat of that tree, but we can know that before the temptation she didn’t eat because she didn’t want to die. Then, Satan convinced her, “You will not die; your eyes will be opened and you will be as God” (Genesis 3:4-5). She surely thought that if it would make her like God, she would live forever.
These five basic drives of life are still in man today. We’ve heard the old saying that “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” There is a definite pattern to the order of the world. Go back and read the early chapters of Genesis and rediscover how history repeats itself, but let’s examine all this in light of eternity. Our bodies are finite; that is, our bodies will not last forever, and we know this as we witness death every day. Unless still living at the Lord’s return, everyone will die and face the Judgment of God, and the living will also be judged. Our souls are infinite; that is, they are endless and will last forever. The apostle Paul was “in hope of eternal life which God, Who cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).
Every man has an eternal soul, and those who accept this fact should want to guard their minds and hearts in Christ Jesus so that they can lay hold on eternal life. One can do this by (1) hearing the Word of God. ‘Faith comes by hearing the word of God’ (Romans 10:17). (2) When one hears the Word, he must believe and accept that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), including himself. (3) When one acknowledges that he is a sinner, he must be sorry for his sins, “repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20). (4) The believer will confess Christ as Savior, “for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). (5) He will be “buried with Him by baptism into death that, like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The old man thereby is crucified with Jesus (Romans 6:6). The faithful must put their hands to the plow and not look back, understanding that the Lord promised, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).
It is my prayer that you will believe that you have an eternal soul that will spend eternity in either a good place or a bad one. If you are not prepared to go to the good place, please have the courage to make your “basic drive” in life to spend “an eternity” in Heaven with God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the angels and the saints of all ages!
